Published on 08 February 2021
Overview
Europe now has a total installed offshore wind capacity of 25 GW. That corresponds to 5,402 grid-connected wind turbines across 12 countries.
Eight new offshore wind projects reached Final Decision Investment (FID) in four different countries during 2020, with construction due to start in the coming years. Investments in new assets accounted for €26.3bn in order to finance 7.1 GW of additional capacity.
Findings
Investments in new assets were a record €26.3bn. There was 7.1 GW of additional capacity financed.
In 2020 Europe added 2,918 MW of new capacity. The Netherlands (1,493 MW), Belgium (706 MW), the UK (483 MW), Germany (219 MW) and Portugal (17 MW) supplied this new capacity to the grid.
In total Europe now has 5,402 turbines connected to the grid, totalling 25,014 MW.
Europe saw nine new wind farms completed (grid-connected). One has partial grid connection and will be fully commissioned in 2021. Construction work started on six other wind farms where no turbines have yet been grid-connected.
Turbines continue to grow: the average rated capacity of turbines installed in 2020 increased to 8.2 MW. Two-thirds of all wind farms with offshore works in 2020 even used turbines larger than this.
